President Maithripala Sirisena instructed issuance of a special gazette notification to declare garbage disposal as an essential service.

Accordingly a gazette will be issued with effect from midnight today under the Public Security Act Clause NO 16 declaring garbage disposal by any authority of the Public Administration is an essential service.

This covers garbage disposal, garbage separation, transportation and storage. Any person contravening the order and disturb any of the above activities will be liable for arrest, prosecution and punishable under the law.